Updated 12:07 a.m., Thursday, April 5, 2012

BOSTON — For 15 seasons, Spurs captain Tim Duncan and Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett, two of the greatest power forwards in NBA history, have done battle against one another in the paint.

With both players in the final seasons of their contracts, could Wednesday’s game at TD Garden have been the last time the two All-Stars would face one another?

Neither player has given any indication of his intent to retire, but Duncan will turn 36 later this month, and Garnett will turn 36 in May.

Duncan said he won’t begin thinking about his future with the Spurs until the season ends, but he didn’t hesitate to reflect on all his battles with Garnett.

“It’s been difficult,” Duncan said after the Spurs emerged with an 87-86 victory that extended the team’s win streak to nine. “We’ve always had some great battles. It always seems to turn into a war at some point in the game, but it’s a lot of fun. We bring a lot out of each other.”

Garnett has been playing center much of the season because teammate Jermaine O’Neal is out with a wrist injury, but he and Duncan still matched up against one another through most of Wednesday’s game.

“We’re not the go-to guys anymore,” he said. “We kind of get matched up more. We’re both playing more center. It just happened that way and, as usual, it’s always tough playing against him.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said the two big men share an approach to the game that is rare.

“They’re so different in the way they play, but they’re very similar in the way they approach the game,” he said. “They’re as professional as we’ve seen for stars, maybe ever, at the same time. You rarely get two superstars at their level who are as coachable and as team-oriented as those two guys, and they do it completely different ways.

“Tim never talks — more than you think, but you don’t see it. Kevin on the floor, you see all his stuff. Yet they still do it for the same reason.”

High praise: Praise for a role player doesn’t get much higher than that heaped on former Texas Longhorns star Avery Bradley by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Bradley was the Celtics’ top scorer with 19 points, and he disrupted the Spurs’ offense with aggressive defensive play in the second half.

“He’s a pain in the ass,” Popovich said. “I mean, the game starts, and you know what he’s going to do. He’s going to cut from the corner to the bucket and lay it in. He’s going to cut diagonally from the top. You know it, and you go play.

“You’ve got to give him credit. He knows his role, and he does it very, very well. He killed us all night long.”

Bonner busy: As usual when the Spurs play in Boston, there was a large contingent of Spurs fans from Concord, N.H., to support hometown hero Matt Bonner.

“I think I ended up getting 19 tickets,” Bonner said. “It was touch-and-go for a while. I wasn’t sure how many I was going to be able to get. I had eight guys on hold. Each time I was able to get another ticket, I’d text them and tell them to get on the road.”